Tyranids 1750pts tournament build.

[Martyn Powell]

Tervigons have their usage as being back field troop poopers but for what they can do I feel they are overpriced. The troop tax is through the roof now and you'll be spending 315pts as a minimum to field just 1 as a troops choice!!!

I play tested my above list and found that the way I deployed and the way I failed 3 reserve rolls on turn 2 (only 1 harpy came on out of all my FMC's) it really allowed my opponent to focus on other things. By turn 3 I had no synapse which really slowed the game down and my troops choices were nearly all gone (by the end of the game I had 7 termagants left).

The game ended on turn 6 with only 1 marine, 1 drop pod and 1 immobilized LS Typhoon, however his 1 marine was holding his objective (emperor's will) and he had first blood. My Termagants were not able to reach my objective but I had linebreaker and slay the warlord... I had both my flyrants, the exocrine and some biovores along with the termagants left. It took until turn 4 for me to really start taking units off the board.

Loving how maneuverable my armies heavy hitters are... the flyrants for example... really easy to jump round the back and get side or rear armour.

Mawloc however killed 3 bikes and then bumped his head twice on an attack bike... rolled a 1 on the mishap... great!

So my list has changed slightly.

Flyrants - 250
wings, tl-BL hive commander
Flyrants - 250
wings, tl-BL hive commander

30 termagants - 120
30 termagants - 120
3 warriors - 110
barbed strangler, deathspitters

2 venomthropes - 90
2 zoanthropes - 100
1 zoanthrope - 50

harpy - 135
harpy - 135

exocrine - 170
3 biovores - 120

aegis with quadgun - 100.

1750.

termagants are outflanking with hive commander... warriors hiding behind defence line with exocrine a zoan biovores and venom.

I think most armies will struggle to deal with 60 termagants coming on at the side of their deployment zones... but we'll see tournament is on saturday I'll let you know how it goes

[Gleipnir]

I would suggest investing in devourers for at least some of your termagants, for the price on an additional gant you triple its firepower and you can always place those models behind a grouping of standard gants that take most of the return fire, while the flyers are capable dropping down and assaulting vehicle side and rear armor, you will want as many shots as possible hitting MEQ targets holding objectives that the biovores simply can't eliminate, synapse may continue to be an issue if you lose your flyrants.

If you are just looking for a unit to man an Icarus Quad gun, why not slap down a 55 point bunker with a 50 point gun emplaced on the top, can put an Alpha Warrior attached to the biovores inside to fire the gun the synapse footprint would be half your backfield and free up the exorcine for moving his firepower forward, as an added bonus makes the biovores a lot less vulnerable to weapons ignoring cover and no longer have to worry about the gun emplacement being targeted as debris, kinda makes the venomthropes/warriors less nessecary between the points spent on second flyrant and those you can either grab another 2 big monsters or Hive Guards or extra troops/upgrades

[This Dave]

Also, I believe The Harpies can start the game on the board if you want since they're FMCS and not Flyers. Not only does this avoid the bad Reserve rolls but you might be able to gank the enemy AA without it getting an Interceptor shot off at them.

[Martyn Powell]

Also, I believe The Harpies can start the game on the board if you want since they're FMCS and not Flyers. Not only does this avoid the bad Reserve rolls but you might be able to gank the enemy AA without it getting an Interceptor shot off at them.

Yes and no... to this one. Yes for being correct throughout and no because I've tried it and the enemy focus fire them while they are on the ground (game against twinseer eldar I lost 2 harpies and a crone in turn 1).

Flying Monstrous Creatures (FMC) can choose to deploy 1 of two ways... from reserve where they arrive from turn 2 onwards with an appropriate reserve roll of sufficient value or they can start on the board.

The pros and cons of starting on the board...
Pros:-
No reserve rolls
More targets for the enemy, so a poor opponent will spread their fire out
Instant access to their firepower
Act like jump infantry (so move over objects, 12" move etc.)
Can charge a target on turn 1 (if for example something deepstrikes near enough)

Cons:-
Have to start gliding (act like jump infantry) meaning everything hits at normal ballistic skill (unless it has skyfire only).
Cannot use special rules such as vector strike or spore mine cysts


So depending on the army and type of list you are facing will depend on how many of your FMC's will survive... trust me they will be priority one for any army.

As for my list I do actually like the bunker idea with the prime and biovores... *GRABS STRONGHOLD ASSAULT BOOK* So depending on what I would go for... Firestorm Redoubt with quad icarus is nice... but battlecannons and obviously magos machine spirit upgrade for 4+ hits on everything.

[Martyn Powell]

So a friendly game against a friend with his Crimson Fists...

He had 2 tactical squads, 2 sternguard squads, 1 dev cent with gravs and attached Inquisitor, 1 Assault Terminators (TH+SS), aegis with quadgun and 4 lascannon devestator squad and Pedro in with the assault terminators.

Hammer and Anvil, Big Guns Never Tire... I get first turn.

Start all my FMC's on the ground in glide mode, turn 1 movement I swoop them 24" (yes you can do this, they just have to start on the table in glide mode it's a risk if you don't get first turn or they seize.)

End my FMC's 1" away from squads, open up with all my units put both sternguard squads down to 5 each and a couple of backline tacticals, 1 dev centurion gone. All his units hold firm despite 3 morale checks and quite a few pinning checks...
His turn 1 it all changed.... I had my Flyrants on the flanks with the harpy's in the middle. From my left to my right... Flyrant (warlord) takes 3 boltgun hits from tactical squad rapid firing... saves all, fails grounding isn't wounded, both sternguard squads then open fire with hellfire and splat for First blood and Slay the Warlord. Harpy 1 takes hits from a tactical squad, fails its grounding test doesn't wound itself... get munched by Devestator centurions. Harpy 2, takes 3 wounds from the quad gun (even with dive), fails its grounding test, gets charged by the assault terminators 3 wounds all saved and splat goes a harpy.

So I was 3/4 FMC's down by turn 1... yay for the grounded rule (seriously why so much love for flyers yet so much hate for FMC's?)

Turn 2 termagants (both come on) outflank right side of the board... right next to his devestators and quadgun... you would think that 60 boltpistol shots (fleshborers but basically boltpistol with assault instead of pistol rule) would put some hurt into them... 3 dead devestators (sadly with bolters).

My bad luck with rolling continues... I lose my last flyrant to more hellfire rounds but not before he finished off the dev centurions...

End game was 8 to me (2 objectives and 2 heavy supports destoryed) and 8 to my opponent (2 objectives and first blood and slay the warlord).

Just found it incredibly frustrating that out of all the shots I either failed completely to hit or with 12 hits from biovores on 1 tactical squad... 3 wounds.

So I've adjusted my list slightly in an attempt to get more wound saturation and more shots (I love the idea Gleipnir put about devourers, triple their shots for double their cost)...

HQ
Flyrant - 260
Wings, TL-Brainleech, Hive Commander, Shreddershard Thorax swarm
Flyrant - 260
Wings, TL-Brainleech, Hive Commander, Shreddershard Thorax swarm

Troops
20 Termagants - 160
Devourers
20 Termagants - 160
Devourers
15 Termagants - 60

Elites
2 Venomthropes - 90
2 Zoanthropes - 100

Fast Attack
Harpy - 135
Harpy - 135

Heavy Support
3 Biovores - 120
Exocrine - 170

Fortification
Aegis line w/Quadgun - 100

1750

[This Dave]

I think the Grounding rule is there to try and balance the fact that Flyers can be killed with 1 hit while most if not all FMCs can't. Though I do think it should be a wounding hit that triggers one rather than just a hit period.

[xsquidz]

So a friendly game against a friend with his Crimson Fists...

He had 2 tactical squads, 2 sternguard squads, 1 dev cent with gravs and attached Inquisitor, 1 Assault Terminators (TH+SS), aegis with quadgun and 4 lascannon devestator squad and Pedro in with the assault terminators.

Hammer and Anvil, Big Guns Never Tire... I get first turn.

Start all my FMC's on the ground in glide mode, turn 1 movement I swoop them 24" (yes you can do this, they just have to start on the table in glide mode it's a risk if you don't get first turn or they seize.)

End my FMC's 1" away from squads, open up with all my units put both sternguard squads down to 5 each and a couple of backline tacticals, 1 dev centurion gone. All his units hold firm despite 3 morale checks and quite a few pinning checks...
His turn 1 it all changed.... I had my Flyrants on the flanks with the harpy's in the middle. From my left to my right... Flyrant (warlord) takes 3 boltgun hits from tactical squad rapid firing... saves all, fails grounding isn't wounded, both sternguard squads then open fire with hellfire and splat for First blood and Slay the Warlord. Harpy 1 takes hits from a tactical squad, fails its grounding test doesn't wound itself... get munched by Devestator centurions. Harpy 2, takes 3 wounds from the quad gun (even with dive), fails its grounding test, gets charged by the assault terminators 3 wounds all saved and splat goes a harpy.

So I was 3/4 FMC's down by turn 1... yay for the grounded rule (seriously why so much love for flyers yet so much hate for FMC's?)

Turn 2 termagants (both come on) outflank right side of the board... right next to his devestators and quadgun... you would think that 60 boltpistol shots (fleshborers but basically boltpistol with assault instead of pistol rule) would put some hurt into them... 3 dead devestators (sadly with bolters).

My bad luck with rolling continues... I lose my last flyrant to more hellfire rounds but not before he finished off the dev centurions...

End game was 8 to me (2 objectives and 2 heavy supports destoryed) and 8 to my opponent (2 objectives and first blood and slay the warlord).

Just found it incredibly frustrating that out of all the shots I either failed completely to hit or with 12 hits from biovores on 1 tactical squad... 3 wounds.

So I've adjusted my list slightly in an attempt to get more wound saturation and more shots (I love the idea Gleipnir put about devourers, triple their shots for double their cost)...

HQ
Flyrant - 260
Wings, TL-Brainleech, Hive Commander, Shreddershard Thorax swarm
Flyrant - 260
Wings, TL-Brainleech, Hive Commander, Shreddershard Thorax swarm

Troops
20 Termagants - 160
Devourers
20 Termagants - 160
Devourers
15 Termagants - 60

Elites
2 Venomthropes - 90
2 Zoanthropes - 100

Fast Attack
Harpy - 135
Harpy - 135

Heavy Support
3 Biovores - 120
Exocrine - 170

Fortification
Aegis line w/Quadgun - 100

1750

Take advantage of your FOC and slots! Split up the biovores, even if they hang out together, if the 2 miss they generate d3 spore mines, if the solo one misses it generates the same d3 spore mines. Plus it gives you 2 chances to roll a direct hit, plus you can target 2 targets vs 1. Same with your elites, either split up the zoans for more synapse coverage and more powers or split the venomthropes for more coverage of shrounding.

[Gleipnir]

Don't be too quick to throw your flyers into Rapid Fire range even at 6's to hit its a surefire way to get grounded(you are paying for Venomthropes may as well get use out of thier cover(+2 cover + area terrain), key is to make the units all come together at once, a gliding FMC usign LoS blocking cover and area terrain moving forward is less suceptible to being grounded right in front of his forces, that way turn 2 he's deciding does he want to focus on your flyers that he didnt get twice as many shots on or the 40+ Termagants shooting 120 shots a turn at him that just showed up (I still recommend padding your 30 man Termagant squads with 10 regular gants without upgrades to take return fire. Also is the potential your Biovores have softened some special weapons via Barrage Sniping and if the blasts scatter too far off thats just 1d3 spores threatening to explode on him next turn unless he has a unit fire at them. Should consider some Adrenal Gland Hormagaunts or Gargoyles as well that can run/jump ahead of your exorcine and venomthropes, with STR 4 on the charge they can glance AV10 rear vehicles and present one more fast moving threat that will all come together at the same time.

Also reason i suggested the Imperial bunker for 55 over an Aegis Line for 50 is it makes your Biovores fearless(so on the IB table they are always at least Prowl even without synapse) and much harder to harm them freeing up your venomthropes to keep up with your flying monstrous critters.

[Gleipnir]

Take advantage of your FOC and slots! Split up the biovores, even if they hang out together, if the 2 miss they generate d3 spore mines, if the solo one misses it generates the same d3 spore mines. Plus it gives you 2 chances to roll a direct hit, plus you can target 2 targets vs 1. Same with your elites, either split up the zoans for more synapse coverage and more powers or split the venomthropes for more coverage of shrounding.

Not sure I follow how splitting the biovores helps besides making for multiple targets. Missing generates d3 spore mines per large blast template that hits nothing, better to have all 3 together for connecting barrage fire.

[flatscan]

Not sure I follow how splitting the biovores helps besides making for multiple targets. Missing generates d3 spore mines per large blast template that hits nothing, better to have all 3 together for connecting barrage fire.

According to p65 of the Tyranid codex only if the FIRST template misses do Spore Mines come in. Having 3 separate units instead of a unit of 3 means more chances for Spore Mines.